Seattle Mayor Conspired with University Researcher to Praise Minimum Wage Increase

Newly released emails sent between researchers at the University of California, Berkeley and the staff of Mayor Ed Murray shed more light on how the two outfits coordinated the release and press coverage of a study that found Seattle’s minimum wage increase has bumped restaurant workers’ pay without costing jobs—a study trumpeted as a strong endorsement of one of the mayor’s signature policy accomplishments.

The emails, obtained by Seattle Weekly through a public disclosure request, show the lead author of the paper, Michael Reich, stayed in close touch with mayoral staff, as well as a think tank that advocates for a $15 minimum wage nationwide and a New York public relations agency, to craft the messaging and timing of the study’s release.

The study was pushed out on June 20, the third anniversary of the minimum wage law’s passage and just a week before a more negative study out of the University of Washington was published—a study Reich and the mayor’s office were well aware of. In order to have the study prepared in time for a press event held by Murray to celebrate the anniversary, Reich apparently worked long hours.

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The report, using data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, found that restaurant workers in Seattle were getting paid more, while the effect on the number of restaurant jobs was “not statistically distinguishable from zero.”

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The Berkeley report came out a week before a more critical study of the minimum wage law was published by researchers at the University of Washington. That study, which used payroll data to track workers making less than $19 an hour and working at firms with only one location, found that workers were experiencing cuts to their hours that outstripped the money they gained through the higher minimum wage. Just like the Berkeley study, the UW study also made headlines across the country.

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truthatallcost said:

Have you ever wondered how liberals are able to get university researchers to formulate study results that support liberal talking points? Well here's how;



Mayor Murray used Michael Reich, an economist researcher at UC Berkeley to put together 'science' that proves the minimum wage increase is working well with no loss of jobs or working hours for those affected.

Reich's source for his study was the Bureau of Labor Statistics, which is so corrupt, it has changed the definition of 'inflation' 20 times in order to avoid admitting inflation exists. The BLS is not a good source for accurate information concerning the economy, in my opinion.



The research study that claims the minimum wage increase has been harmful, uses better data that the cooked Murray/Reich study:



I found this article very interesting, and eye opening for learning how liberals turn their talking points into facts.

Emails Show Mayor’s Office and Berkeley Economist Coordinated Release of Favorable Minimum Wage Study | Seattle Weekly

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truthatallcost said:

Reich's source for his study was the Bureau of Labor Statistics, which is so corrupt, it has changed the definition of 'inflation' 20 times in order to avoid admitting inflation exists.

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The BLS is not a good source for accurate information concerning the economy, in my opinion.

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What if...? said:

Just remember its how conservatives turn their talking points into facts too.

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ecofarm said:

So stupid. Are you accustomed to pushing this BS on idiots?



Well, if it's not 911Truth.com then it's part of the conspiracy, right?

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truthatallcost said:

How do we get politics out of scientific research? That's what we should be concerned with. The mayor of Seattle practically ordered a research paper to fit his agenda, and many on DP ran with it, without knowing the real source was a corrupt mayor on the verge of being forced to resign.

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truthatallcost said:

Do you want me to prove it, or play Let's Insult Each Other like you're doing? I can do either, but I'd prefer an intelligent conversation if you are capable of reciprocating.

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truthatallcost said:

Do you want me to prove it, or play Let's Insult Each Other like you're doing? I can do either, but I'd prefer an intelligent conversation if you are capable of reciprocating.

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ecofarm said:

It's not an insult to laugh at the rejection of a legitimate source by someone that believes 911truth.com. If you don't like it, construct different arguments.

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ecofarm said:

Coordinating the release of a study does not amount to the conspiracy you imagine. The data used in the study is there for all to see.

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truthatallcost said:

You can't even stay focused on the topic at hand. You realize that the OP isn't about 9/11, right? And if you really wanted to discuss 9/11 on that other thread, you wouldn't have ran away with your tail between your legs.

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truthatallcost said:

...over the past 30 years, the government has changed the way it calculates inflation more than 20 times. These ‘methodological improvements’ to the CPI are said to give a more accurate measure of consumer prices. However, these changes could also be a convenient way to include or exclude certain products that give favorably low results, but there’s no way to know, given the lack of transparency.

It doesn’t make sense that the BLS’s measurement of inflation was only 1.5% last year, while at the same time, monetary inflation grew 4.9%.

Another example where the BLS doesn’t meet other agency’s inflation measurements is the U.S. Department of Agriculture. According to the BLS the average price of beef and veal increased 20 percent over the past five years. However, according to the USDA, beef prices have increased 26 percent over the past five years. I asked a statistician at the BLS about this discrepancy and he said “I would expect those numbers to be a little closer together.” When even the federal government gets different numbers on the same products, how could this possibly be an accurate measurement of inflation?

https://www.forbes.com/sites/perian...lation-dont-bother-with-the-cpi/#26ead652200b

BLS' unemployment figures are also crap. They are a mouthpiece for the government, and release flawed studies in order to perpetuate the idea that government has everything under control, when they really don't. This gist of their studies is:

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On average, consumer prices increased 1.5 percent, according to the government.

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ecofarm said:

Same article:



CPI is being used as the figure for inflation. There could be good reasons.

Got better than an opinion article?

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truthatallcost said:

'government' = BLS :doh

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ecofarm said:

If you have a problem with using CPI instead of monetary inflation, take it up. But that opinion article is not support for the conspiracy you believe exists in the BLS. And it is not attempting to negate or otherwise pretend monetary inflation does not exist.

Everything's a conspiracy, huh?

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truthatallcost said:

You're a gov fan boi I take it.

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ecofarm said:

Oh, yeah. I got pom poms and everything.



Pathetic. It's so Truther to strawman everything.

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truthatallcost said:

Can the mods kick this guy off my thread please? He's broken a bunch of rules here and doesn't seem to want to discuss the OP.

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ecofarm said:

I already explained to you: coordinating the release of a study is not the conspiracy you imagine to exist. All data was presented. Nothing was hidden.

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truthatallcost said:

The practice appears suspicious, especially considering Murray's reputation as a corrupt politician. Let's agree that there needs to be greater transparency in publishing who's behind research studies that influence public opinion on political issues. I do applaud the Seattle Weekly, which was in favor of the wage increase, for divulging the Murray connection.

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coordinated the release and press coverage of a study

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ecofarm said:

He's not "behind the study".

Release and press coverage. That's it. Basically, he told a scientist that if they can get the study published quickly, he'd help with press coverage. I'm not even sure it's unethical at all.

There's nothing to see here. You are making a conspiracy mountain out of a molehill (or, more likely, nothing at all).

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Neomalthusian said:

As long as the study arrives at the conclusion we want and praises our policies, the methodology is good. If it doesn't, the methodology is flawed.

Post-truth America.

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ecofarm said:

He's not "behind the study".

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Release and press coverage. That's it. Basically, he told a scientist that if they can get the study published quickly, he'd help with press coverage. I'm not even sure it's unethical at all.

There's nothing to see here. You are making a conspiracy mountain out of a molehill (or, more likely, nothing at all).

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truthatallcost said:

He called up an economics researcher at UC Berkeley, and asked him to prepare a favorable study in preparation for the UW study that was coming out. A PR firm with ties to an AP journalist then primed the results of the study to have maximum impact. Sorry you were fooled.

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Notably, none of the emails provided to Seattle Weekly suggest that Reich, a respected economist in the wage field, manipulated data or his findings in order to make the minimum wage law look successful. Rather, the emails speak to how the findings of the report were communicated to the public—with an eye toward making the biggest splash possible with a national audience that’s been watching Seattle to see how its wage experiment is going.

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Well you have two sets of ethics; one for people who represent your ideology, and another for everyone else.

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